This is the first formula that captures the architecture of persistent intelligence.
What do the five dimensions of scale represent?
1. Parameters — The Old Benchmark
Size still matters, but no longer dominates. Beyond a certain threshold, doubling parameters gives diminishing marginal returns.
Models do not become meaningfully more coherent just by getting bigger.
2. Data — The Fuel Reservoir
Training corpus quality and diversity remain essential, but the open web is finite and noisy. Curated datasets and human feedback (RLHF) continue to matter, but the opportunity space is narrowing.
Data alone cannot unlock continuity or agency.
3. Compute — The Power Constraint
Training and inference demand massive GPU hours. Energy consumption and cooling are becoming structural bottlenecks.
We are compute-bound, not capability-bound.
These first three dimensions define the world before Phase 4.
What new capability comes from the fourth dimension: Memory?
Memory introduces a persistence layer — the first time models can retain information across interactions.
No amount of parameters alone can produce these outcomes. They arise only when memory and context interact across time.
Final Synthesis
The new scaling formula marks the most important conceptual shift in AI since the Transformer. Performance is no longer defined by sheer size, but by the coherence of memory and context. Parameters, data, and compute still matter — but they are no longer the frontier.
The new frontier is architectural. Emergent intelligence arises from continuity, integration, and long-horizon coherence — not scale.
Gennaro is the creator of FourWeekMBA, which reached about four million business people, comprising C-level executives, investors, analysts, product managers, and aspiring digital entrepreneurs in 2022 alone | He is also Director of Sales for a high-tech scaleup in the AI Industry | In 2012, Gennaro earned an International MBA with emphasis on Corporate Finance and Business Strategy.
